Interpretation ID: 7842
President
S.C.C. CARAT Inc.
109 Maple Avenue
Huntsville, AL 35801
Dear Mr. Scheys:
This responds to your letter of October 2, 1992, asking for an explanation of how this agency's regulations would affect two types of vehicle conversions your company plans to undertake.
In the first situation, a customer in California wishes to send two "U.S. spec" cars that he presently owns to Europe for a 39-inch stretch conversion. In the second situation, the customer would take delivery of a "U.S. spec car" in Europe, use it for tourist purposes, and leave it at your factory for conversion, and subsequent shipment to the United States. You also ask for "advice for the case where we have to convert a car into an armoured car." I am pleased to have this opportunity to explain our laws and regulations for you.
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act (the Safety Act) provides generally that no person shall manufacture, sell, or import into the United States any motor vehicle unless that vehicle is in conformity with all applicable U.S. motor vehicle safety standards and is covered by a manufacturer's certification to that effect. The certification requirements are set forth in 49 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 567. The certification requirements apply to persons and entities that perform some manufacturing or conversion activities to a vehicle before that vehicle's first sale for purposes other than resale. This means that the original manufacturer of a vehicle (Mercedes-Benz, for instance) must certify that each of its completed vehicles conforms to all applicable U.S. safety standard and permanently affix a label with that statement on each such vehicle. For the purposes of this letter, I am assuming that the cars you call "U.S. spec" cars are cars to which the original manufacturer has affixed its certification label.
If any party performs conversion operations on a certified vehicle before the initial purchase of the vehicle, the party would be an "alterer" and required to affix its own label identifying itself and certifying that the converted vehicle continues to conform to all applicable Federal motor vehicle safety standards. See 49 CFR 567.7. However, in the situations posited in your letter, the conversions to be performed in Europe by your company would be performed on vehicles after the first purchase of the vehicle for purposes other than resale. This agency does not require any certification to be made or certification label to be affixed by entities that perform conversions on vehicles after the first purchase of those vehicles. Thus, your company need not make its own certification nor affix its own label. Instead, your company must leave in place the original manufacturer's certification label.
The only provision in U.S. law that applies to conversion operations performed on vehicles after the first purchase in good faith for purposes other than resale is set forth in Title 15, United States Code, section 1397(b)(2). That section of the law forbids any "manufacturer, distributor, dealer, or motor vehicle repair business" from "knowingly rendering inoperative in whole or in part any device or element of design installed in accordance with a Federal motor vehicle safety standard." This means that your company must ensure that your conversion operations do not cause the converted vehicle to no longer comply with the U.S. motor vehicle safety standards. Pursuant to this responsibility, the agency would, for example, expect that, if the vehicle's weight ratings and tire inflation pressures shown on its original certification labels were no longer valid after conversion, a converter would install new labels showing the correct weight ratings and tire inflation pressures.
Assuming your company leaves the original manufacturer's certification label in place on the converted vehicles, the owner of the vehicles should not encounter any difficulties when the converted vehicles are imported into the United States. The importer would simply file a declaration stating that the vehicle conforms to the applicable safety standards and bears an original manufacturer's certification label to that effect, pursuant to 49 CFR 591.5(b).
For your information, I have enclosed a copy of an information sheet for new manufacturers that briefly explains our regulations and tells how to obtain copies of those regulations. I hope this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
Paul Jackson Rice Chief Counsel
Enclosure
ref:567 d:11/16/92